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The inventions of the internet and the world wide web (www) have changed the nature of citizens’ interactions with their governments from traditional (face-to-face) to online interactive-based interaction. Two technological governmental initiatives provide evidence of this change: e-government and e-voting (alomari, 2018; alomari, woods, & sandhu, 2012; carter, weerakkody, phillips, & dwivedi, 2016; mensah & mi, 2018a; nu’man, 2012). E-voting is one technological innovation and e-government application that has drawn governments’ attention in both developed and developing countries to the importance of using the internet in political and governance processes (alomari, 2014a; carter & bélanger, 2005; idoughi & abdelhakim, 2018). Alomari (2016a) indicated that the “… government of jordan has viewed this initiative as an approach to enhance the democratic process by ensuring more participation by voters in choosing their representatives and leaders” (p.409). In different definitions of e-voting, citizens (voters) have been highlighted as the main stakeholders of the e-voting system. One definition introduced by alomari (2016b) stated that it is: “[a] mechanism through which voting processes are produced and delivered to citizens utilizing web-based internet applications” (p.527).
An e-voting system introduces advantages that can reduce the possible negative consequences of paper-based elections, such as ballot counting errors and manipulation of elections to suit the needs of particular candidates. These advantages are briefly summarized below:
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An e-voting system automates the election process and therefore would reduce errors and election issues (Alomari, 2014).
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An e-voting system “… not only save[s] time for voters, but also, by elevating the convenience in [the] election, raise[s] the percentage of people voting” (Chung & Zhen–Yu, 2012).